The Marshall Mathers LP (Eminem album)
The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released in mid 2000 by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records and features guest appearances from Dido, RBX, Sticky Fingaz, Dina Rae, Bizzare, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Nate Dogg and D12, Eminem's rap group. The album received super positive reviews and was a commercial success. Eminem, due to his lyrical content, has been labeled as "violent, misogynistic and homophobic". In 2002, the album was followed by his fourth studio album The Eminem Show. On November 5, 2013, Eminem released a sequel to this album titled The Marshall Mathers LP 2. History Eminem, after the commercial failure that was his debut album Infinite from 1996, created the alter ego Slim Shady. He introduced Shady in 1997 on his first extended play Slim Shady EP. After participating and placing second in the Rap Olympics, an annual nationwide battle rap competition, Eminem was noticed by Interscope Records' staff and eventually CEO Jimmy Ivorne, who played the 36-minute EP to rapper Dr. Dre. Eminem and Dre recorded Em's first major-label album The Slim Shady LP (1999) from 1997 to 1998. The album's over the top lyrical depictions of drugs and violence. It was a critical and commercial success, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and selling 283,000 copies in its first week. Track Listing All tracks written by Marshall Mathers, Andre Young, Melvin Breeden, Dido Armstrong, Paul Herman, Mike Elizondo, Tommy Coster, Eric Collins, Kirk Jones, Jeff & Mark Bass, Rufus Johnson, Cordozar Broadus Jr., Alvin Joiner, Nathaniel Hale, Denaun Porter, Von Carlisle, Ondre Moore Johnson and DeShaun Holton. Personnel Why It Rocks #Most of the songs are really memorable like "The Way I Am"", "Stan" and "The Real Slim Shady". #The album has no bad songs (except for Amityville). #The music videos for this album are just as memorable as the songs themselves. #The production on this album is phenomenal #Eminem's flow on this album is still spectacular. #Eminem's delivery on this album is also spectacular. #The lyrics on this album are really good. #The album cover is great; it shows Eminem outside of his childhood home. #The features are terrific. #Large number of tracks combined (28). #Good skits like "Paul". #It, along with The Slim Shady LP and The Eminem Show, are some of Eminem's best projects. #The bonus track adds the great instrumentals of "Stan" and "The Way I Am" and "The Real Slim Shady". #In the song "Marshall Mathers", Em disses Vanilla Ice and Insane Clown Posse, and succeeds. Bad Qualities # Just like the previous album, it got a lot of controversy, mainly due to Eminem using the homophobic slur "faggot" in some of his songs, most notably "Criminal". Reception Critical Reception Contemporary reception The Marshall Mathers LP was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. Will Hermes of Entertainment Weekly gave it an A- and wrote that as the first significant popular music album of the 2000s, The Marshall Mathers LP is "indefensible and critic-proof, hypocritical and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable". Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times gave it a 3 and a half out of 4 stars. Steve Southerland of NME gave the record a 9/10. Touré of Rolling Stone gave it a 4 out of 5 stars, complimenting Dr. Dre's production and Eminem's varied lyrical style on what is a "car-crash record: loud, wild, dangerous, out of control, grotesque, unsetting", but ultimately captivating. On Metacritic, the album has a score of 78/100 based on 21 reviews. Retrospective reception Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave The Marshall Mathers LP a five out of five stars, calling it "A fairly brilliant expansion of his debut, turning his spare, menacing hip-hop into a hyper-surreal, wittily disturbing thrill ride". Jeremy D. Larson of Pitchfork gave it a 9.4/10, saying "By virtue of his whiteness and talent in almost equal measure, Eminem would come to rule pop culture in America by becoming this century's prototypical troll". Collin Larkin of Encyclopedia of Popular Music gave the record a 4 out of 5 stars. In the Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Christian Hoard gave it a 5 out 5 stars. Accolades In 2001, The Marshall Mathers LP won in the Best Rap Album category at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The album has been ranked as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time by XXL Magazine, Time Magazine and Rolling Stone Magazine. Rhapsody ranked it at number one on their "The 10 Best Albums by White Rappers" list in 2010. Chart Perfomance Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications * Australia (ARIA): 4x Platinum - 280,000 * Brazil (Pro-Musica Brasil): Gold - 100,000 * Canada (Music Canada): 8x Platinum - 800,000 * New Zealand (RMNZ): 5x Platinum - 75,000 * South Africa (RISA): 2x Platinum - 100,000 * United Kingdom (BPI): 8x Platinum - 2,530,000 * United States (RIAA): Diamond - 11,000,000 Videos Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP - Full 2000 Album|The full album. Video courtesy of Aski Crazy. Category:2000s Category:Hip hop Category:Horrorcore Category:Hardcore hip hop Category:Comedy hip hop Category:Albums Category:Eminem Category:Eminem albums Category:Albums that Charted at Number 1